Re: [gentoo-user] Can't get the GUI to stay up for more than a minute or so before crashing

[Dale]

Mark Knecht wrote:
>
>
> On Sat, Jun 29, 2024 at 3:15 PM Michael  > wrote:
> >
> > On Saturday, 29 June 2024 21:30:59 BST Dale wrote:
> > > I booted the rig up and decided to try something.  Once it was
> booted, I
> > > logged in from my main rig via ssh.  I then typed in the command to
> > > start DM.  It started and looked OK.  Then I just up arrow and changed
> > > it to restart the DM.  I restarted DM back to back several times, more
> > > than a dozen.  Sometimes it wouldn't work, sometimes it would be low
> > > resolution and sometimes it would come up and look like it should, hi
> > > res and all.  I also tried logging in when it was working and I could
> > > login.  The biggest thing I noticed, it never came up fully.  Most of
> > > the time it came up in hi res but no plasma.  A few times it was a low
> > > res screen and no plasma.  Looked like maybe 720P or less.
> > >
> > > The thing is, it didn't fully come up even once.  It was always
> lacking
> > > plasma at least.  Some of the time, it was low res.  Several
> times, the
> > > monitor would go black and cut off completely.  It would go to sleep.
> > > If the new monitor works, I'm thinking Micheal is right.  The monitor
> > > works with slower systems and the nouveau drivers on boot media.  With
> > > Nvidia on the install, hit or miss, mostly miss.  I think it has only
> > > worked fully twice.
> >
> > I think after all these attempts you have proven this monitor with
> this nvidia
> > card just won't work on its own, unless and until you try changing the
> > "Monitor" settings as I suggested in my previous message, or
> extract, store
> > and feed the monitor's EDID file to your card.
> >
> > However, you have your hands full and may want to leave this for now
> and wait
> > for the next larger and more modern monitor to show up.  Hopefully
> that will
> > work better!  :-)
>
> He certainly does have his hands full!
>
> I'm confused. (a standard state of being for me...) I thought Dale
> reported that
> he installed Kubuntu on an SSD - or did we just talk about that idea -
> and he
> said all the port problems were ironed out with the open source driver.
>
> What he didn't report was if he installed the nvidia-drivers in
> Kubuntu. I 
> personally wouldn't write off the 'old monitor' until doing at least that.
>
> sudo apt update
> sudo apt upgrade
>
> ubuntu-drivers list
> (make sure the video-card is found)
>
> sudo apt install nvidia-drivers-550
> (assuming he has a Quadro P1000 from memory)
>
> reboot
>
> Shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes to try. No real risk as 
> he's going to blow away the Kubuntu install anyway.
>


I do have Kubuntu installed on a 2.5" SSD.  I wasn't sure how to install
and switch to the Nvidia drivers.  That was on my todo list as soon as I
had some time.  Thing is, the new monitor may get here first.  I just
picked a whole gallon ice cream bucket packed full of basil.  It's
soaking in the sink now.  Dehydrator comes next.  That takes at least a
day to complete.  On the positive side, the house smells really good for
a day or so.  LOL 

I also thought of going to boot runlevel on my main rig while in a
console, unplug the monitor hooked to my main rig now and plug it into
the new rig.  Then boot and see what happens.  It might work.  It's a
newer monitor and it's a Samsung instead of a LG.  If it did work, I
could switch and switch to new monitor when it gets here.  I plan to use
the old Dell rig to watch TV with while I switch.  I can use the backup
drives for that.  Moving all these drives could take a while.  O_O

At least now I have the commands needed to try it tho.  That helps.  :-D 

Michael, I did try the settings you posted.  I thought I tried them and
posted a reply.  I may have missed one tho.  This is a long thread. 
This monitor has been a serious PITA.  :-@ 

Back to the basil.  Glad my meds are working pretty good.  -_O

Dale

:-) :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] Can't get the GUI to stay up for more than a minute or so before crashing

[Mark Knecht]

On Sat, Jun 29, 2024 at 3:15 PM Michael  wrote:
>
> On Saturday, 29 June 2024 21:30:59 BST Dale wrote:
> > I booted the rig up and decided to try something.  Once it was booted, I
> > logged in from my main rig via ssh.  I then typed in the command to
> > start DM.  It started and looked OK.  Then I just up arrow and changed
> > it to restart the DM.  I restarted DM back to back several times, more
> > than a dozen.  Sometimes it wouldn't work, sometimes it would be low
> > resolution and sometimes it would come up and look like it should, hi
> > res and all.  I also tried logging in when it was working and I could
> > login.  The biggest thing I noticed, it never came up fully.  Most of
> > the time it came up in hi res but no plasma.  A few times it was a low
> > res screen and no plasma.  Looked like maybe 720P or less.
> >
> > The thing is, it didn't fully come up even once.  It was always lacking
> > plasma at least.  Some of the time, it was low res.  Several times, the
> > monitor would go black and cut off completely.  It would go to sleep.
> > If the new monitor works, I'm thinking Micheal is right.  The monitor
> > works with slower systems and the nouveau drivers on boot media.  With
> > Nvidia on the install, hit or miss, mostly miss.  I think it has only
> > worked fully twice.
>
> I think after all these attempts you have proven this monitor with this
nvidia
> card just won't work on its own, unless and until you try changing the
> "Monitor" settings as I suggested in my previous message, or extract,
store
> and feed the monitor's EDID file to your card.
>
> However, you have your hands full and may want to leave this for now and
wait
> for the next larger and more modern monitor to show up.  Hopefully that
will
> work better!  :-)

He certainly does have his hands full!

I'm confused. (a standard state of being for me...) I thought Dale reported
that
he installed Kubuntu on an SSD - or did we just talk about that idea - and
he
said all the port problems were ironed out with the open source driver.

What he didn't report was if he installed the nvidia-drivers in Kubuntu. I
personally wouldn't write off the 'old monitor' until doing at least that.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

ubuntu-drivers list
(make sure the video-card is found)

sudo apt install nvidia-drivers-550
(assuming he has a Quadro P1000 from memory)

reboot

Shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes to try. No real risk as
he's going to blow away the Kubuntu install anyway.

Re: [gentoo-user] Can't get the GUI to stay up for more than a minute or so before crashing

[Dale]

Jack wrote:
> Have you tried downloading the EDID from the monitor so it can be
> loaded as firmware from disk, so the response speed of the monitor
> isn't a factor?  I had to do that once for a similar reason, but it
> was so many years ago I don't actually remember the details - in fact
> it might have been a big glass CRT  monitor where I had to get the
> edid from off the interwebs somewhere.
>

I haven't but maybe I should.  Thing is, if the new monitor that is on
the way works, I won't likely ever have this monitor on the new rig
again.  It is the smallest and oldest monitor I have.  I usually use it
during installs or on rigs I rarely use anyway.  This is mostly on the
NAS box rigs that I use to do backups with.  I only boot them once a
week and they only run for a couple hours at most.  I pitched the old
CRT monitors long ago.  Those thing produced a LOT of heat and pulled a
huge amount of power compared to the new flat screen ones. 

I just realized something.  The CPU cooler and m.2 cooler is made by the
same company.  No wonder they look so much alike.  ROFL  Oh, I did add
some thermal pad to the controller end.  It was making some contact
before but it looks like it was only touching about half of the
controller chip based on the indentation it left behind in the pad.  A
.5mm thick piece made it fairly flat between the controller and memory
chip.  It would likely work fine even under heavy use but now I know it
is going to cool very well.  I can be a little OCD on some things.  :/ 

Oh, I'm in the heat picking basil.  Dang that stuff smells good.  Almost
got a ice cream bucket full.  :-D  I'm still on the first planter.  I
got two more to go.  o_O

Dale

:-)  :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] Can't get the GUI to stay up for more than a minute or so before crashing

[Michael]

On Saturday, 29 June 2024 21:30:59 BST Dale wrote:
> I booted the rig up and decided to try something.  Once it was booted, I
> logged in from my main rig via ssh.  I then typed in the command to
> start DM.  It started and looked OK.  Then I just up arrow and changed
> it to restart the DM.  I restarted DM back to back several times, more
> than a dozen.  Sometimes it wouldn't work, sometimes it would be low
> resolution and sometimes it would come up and look like it should, hi
> res and all.  I also tried logging in when it was working and I could
> login.  The biggest thing I noticed, it never came up fully.  Most of
> the time it came up in hi res but no plasma.  A few times it was a low
> res screen and no plasma.  Looked like maybe 720P or less. 
> 
> The thing is, it didn't fully come up even once.  It was always lacking
> plasma at least.  Some of the time, it was low res.  Several times, the
> monitor would go black and cut off completely.  It would go to sleep. 
> If the new monitor works, I'm thinking Micheal is right.  The monitor
> works with slower systems and the nouveau drivers on boot media.  With
> Nvidia on the install, hit or miss, mostly miss.  I think it has only
> worked fully twice. 

I think after all these attempts you have proven this monitor with this nvidia 
card just won't work on its own, unless and until you try changing the 
"Monitor" settings as I suggested in my previous message, or extract, store 
and feed the monitor's EDID file to your card.

However, you have your hands full and may want to leave this for now and wait 
for the next larger and more modern monitor to show up.  Hopefully that will 
work better!  :-)


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Description: This is a digitally signed message part.

Re: [gentoo-user] Can't get the GUI to stay up for more than a minute or so before crashing

[Jack]

Have you tried downloading the EDID from the monitor so it can be loaded 
as firmware from disk, so the response speed of the monitor isn't a 
factor?  I had to do that once for a similar reason, but it was so many 
years ago I don't actually remember the details - in fact it might have 
been a big glass CRT  monitor where I had to get the edid from off the 
interwebs somewhere.


On 6/29/24 4:30 PM, Dale wrote:

I booted the rig up and decided to try something.  Once it was booted, I
logged in from my main rig via ssh.  I then typed in the command to
start DM.  It started and looked OK.  Then I just up arrow and changed
it to restart the DM.  I restarted DM back to back several times, more
than a dozen.  Sometimes it wouldn't work, sometimes it would be low
resolution and sometimes it would come up and look like it should, hi
res and all.  I also tried logging in when it was working and I could
login.  The biggest thing I noticed, it never came up fully.  Most of
the time it came up in hi res but no plasma.  A few times it was a low
res screen and no plasma.  Looked like maybe 720P or less.

The thing is, it didn't fully come up even once.  It was always lacking
plasma at least.  Some of the time, it was low res.  Several times, the
monitor would go black and cut off completely.  It would go to sleep.
If the new monitor works, I'm thinking Micheal is right.  The monitor
works with slower systems and the nouveau drivers on boot media.  With
Nvidia on the install, hit or miss, mostly miss.  I think it has only
worked fully twice.

The last update showed the monitor a couple states away.  FedEx is
pretty speedy.  I think if things move well, it could be here Monday.
It still shows Tuesday tho.  Given I been dealing with this for a week
or so now, another few days isn't a big deal.  Plus, I'll have a really
nice large monitor for these old eyes.  o_o

I took meds last night.  I didn't wake up in time to pick my basil
again.  I got three planters of it that need picking.  It's hot and
humid outside.  Try again in the morning.  That basil sure is good.
Even opening the jar smells awesome.  Nothing like the store bought stuff.

I finally uploaded some pics.  Some are while the rig is running.  You
can see the LEDs on the memory stick lit up.  Some are components.
Also, there is a couple of the little m.2 stick cooler.  I think that
little thing is so cute.  Kinda looks like the CPU cooler, just
smaller.  m.2 sticks runs at just above 100F even when pretty busy.
Very effective.  :-D  This is a link to the gallery or whatever.

https://postimg.cc/gallery/w6HQp83

Just imagine that in a Fractal Design Define XL case now.  Dang that
case is big.  It's a hair larger than my Cooler Master HAF-932 which is
a awesome case.  Oh, I also finally fixed the power on light on the
front.  I hooked the wires up backwards.  LEDs never work well when
connected up wrong.  LOL

Dale

:-)  :-)

Re: [gentoo-user] Can't get the GUI to stay up for more than a minute or so before crashing

[Dale]

I booted the rig up and decided to try something.  Once it was booted, I
logged in from my main rig via ssh.  I then typed in the command to
start DM.  It started and looked OK.  Then I just up arrow and changed
it to restart the DM.  I restarted DM back to back several times, more
than a dozen.  Sometimes it wouldn't work, sometimes it would be low
resolution and sometimes it would come up and look like it should, hi
res and all.  I also tried logging in when it was working and I could
login.  The biggest thing I noticed, it never came up fully.  Most of
the time it came up in hi res but no plasma.  A few times it was a low
res screen and no plasma.  Looked like maybe 720P or less. 

The thing is, it didn't fully come up even once.  It was always lacking
plasma at least.  Some of the time, it was low res.  Several times, the
monitor would go black and cut off completely.  It would go to sleep. 
If the new monitor works, I'm thinking Micheal is right.  The monitor
works with slower systems and the nouveau drivers on boot media.  With
Nvidia on the install, hit or miss, mostly miss.  I think it has only
worked fully twice. 

The last update showed the monitor a couple states away.  FedEx is
pretty speedy.  I think if things move well, it could be here Monday. 
It still shows Tuesday tho.  Given I been dealing with this for a week
or so now, another few days isn't a big deal.  Plus, I'll have a really
nice large monitor for these old eyes.  o_o

I took meds last night.  I didn't wake up in time to pick my basil
again.  I got three planters of it that need picking.  It's hot and
humid outside.  Try again in the morning.  That basil sure is good. 
Even opening the jar smells awesome.  Nothing like the store bought stuff. 

I finally uploaded some pics.  Some are while the rig is running.  You
can see the LEDs on the memory stick lit up.  Some are components. 
Also, there is a couple of the little m.2 stick cooler.  I think that
little thing is so cute.  Kinda looks like the CPU cooler, just
smaller.  m.2 sticks runs at just above 100F even when pretty busy. 
Very effective.  :-D  This is a link to the gallery or whatever. 

https://postimg.cc/gallery/w6HQp83

Just imagine that in a Fractal Design Define XL case now.  Dang that
case is big.  It's a hair larger than my Cooler Master HAF-932 which is
a awesome case.  Oh, I also finally fixed the power on light on the
front.  I hooked the wires up backwards.  LEDs never work well when
connected up wrong.  LOL 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

[gentoo-user] Re: Can't get the GUI to stay up for more than a minute or so before crashing

[Grant Edwards]

On 2024-06-28, Dale  wrote:

> Before I ran out of steam this morning, I tried the nouveau drivers
> again.  I never can remember how to spell that. :/  I unmerged the
> nvidia drivers to do this.  I used the in tree nouveau drivers tho.  For
> some reason, even tho I removed the nvidia package and rebooted, it
> still showed it was loading the nvidia drivers which shouldn't even
> exist.  No matter what I did, it loaded the nvidia drivers.  I could see
> it with lsmod and lspci -k.  It's like I can't get rid of the nvidia
> drivers now.

There are two parts to the nvidia drivers: the kernel module (which is
what you're seeing with lspci -k and lsmod) and the user-space Xorg
driver (which is presumably what you unmerged).

--
Grant

[gentoo-user] Re: Eliminating unwanted linux-firmware blobs.

[Grant Edwards]

On 2024-06-28, Eli Schwartz  wrote:
> On 6/28/24 6:31 PM, Peter Humphrey wrote:
>> On Friday, 28 June 2024 20:32:11 BST Tsukasa Mcp_Reznor wrote:
>> 
>>> Remove the date.so it becomes
>>> /etc/portage/savedconfig/sys-kernel/linux-firmware then it applies to all
>>> of them and not the specified version.
>>>
>>> Hope that helps
>> 
>> It certainly does. I wish I'd known that years ago: it would have saved me 
>> an 
>> awful lot of renaming.
>
> The elog message states:
>
>  * Your configuration for sys-kernel/linux-firmware-20240610-r1 has been
> saved in
>  * "/etc/portage/savedconfig/sys-kernel/linux-firmware-20240610-r1" for
> your editing pleasure.
>  * You can edit these files by hand and remerge this package with
>  * USE=savedconfig to customise the configuration.
>  * You can rename this file/directory to one of the following for
>  * its configuration to apply to multiple versions:
>  * ${PORTAGE_CONFIGROOT}/etc/portage/savedconfig/
>  * [${CTARGET}|${CHOST}|""]/${CATEGORY}/[${PF}|${P}|${PN}]
>
> I admit that this is a bit hard to analyze...

Just a bit. :)

Sure would be nice if it was mentioned on whe Wiki page. Mayber later
today...

--
Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] Can't get the GUI to stay up for more than a minute or so before crashing

[Dale]

Michael wrote:
> On Thursday, 27 June 2024 23:52:25 BST Dale wrote:
>
> It's your call which drivers you should try to get it to work with first.
>
> Slow GUI response with the nouveau driver would indicate the kernel 
> configuration/firmware loading was not 100% when you trying initially, 
> because 
> it works fine when you tried it again with Kubuntu's kernel.
>
> People who use Nvidia prefer the nvidia driver in terms of performance, CUDA, 
> etc. so you may want to stick with the nvidia driver initially.  In this 
> case, 
> walk through this guide and cross-check you followed all suggestions in there 
> to configure your kernel, including disabling the nouveau driver.
>
> https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/NVIDIA/nvidia-drivers
>


I went through that guide.  I did find some drivers that needed to be
enabled according to the guide.  I enabled them, recompiled and
rebooted.  Nothing changed. 


> If you intend to have both nouveau and nvidia drivers and switch between 
> them, 
> then you can build nouveau as a module and implement the more convoluted 
> switching methods suggested in the next guide, but I suggest you leave this 
> for later and not confuse the two drivers:
>
> https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Nouveau_%26_nvidia-drivers_switching

I wasn't intending to use both, just see if the nouveau drivers would
work and perform well.  With some tweaking maybe.  They seem to work
fine on the boot media.  If they did that on the install and with all my
monitors connected, I'd be fine with it.  I want the monitors to work. 
Nvidia would be nice given it is what I'm used to but right now, Nvidia
is on my bad list.  :-D  Keep in mind, I may end up with three monitors,
maybe four, connected.  Whatever driver I use needs to be up to the
task.  I'd think Nvidia would be, if it ever works that is.  LOL 


>
> Having checked your kernel against the nvidia-driver guide, installed your 
> updated kernel & initramfs images you should reboot.  Use 'lspci -k' and scan 
> dmesg to make sure nvidia is loaded and there were no hiccups.
>
> You've tried not having an xorg.conf and didn't work, or at least it did not 
> work reliably.  Mind you, you also tried with a xorg.conf and this didn't 
> make 
> things better.  LOL!  However, I think this was because the "Monitor" section 
> was mostly empty:
>
> Section "Monitor"
> Identifier "Monitor0"
> VendorName "Unknown"
> ModelName  "Unknown"
> Option "DPMS"
> EndSection
>
> Restart, if you need to, the display-manager until you eventually arrive at a 
> fully loaded and functioning desktop.  nvidia-smi should reveal if the driver 
> is loaded and working fully.  You can run nvidia-settings, (emerge x11-
> drivers/nvidia-drivers with USE="tools") to tweak resolution and frequency 
> for 
> your monitor, which will then be stored in your config file:
>
> https://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/1.0-6106/nvidia-settings-user-guide.txt

I have tools enabled.  Did that long ago.  Those tools while rarely used
can come in handy. 

>
> O, while all is working as desired 'xrandr -q' will provide you with some 
> useful information for your xorg.conf:
>
> Identifier - e.g. "DisplayPort-0", or "LG Electronics W2253"
>
> Modeline - e.g. Modeline 1920x1080_60.0  138.50  1920 1968 2000 2080  1080 
> 1083 1088  +hsync +vsync
>
> and you can set a preferred option in your xorg.conf; e.g.
>
> HorizSync   15.0 - 67.0
> VertRefresh 59.0 - 60.0
> Modeline"1920x1080_60.0  138.50  1920 1968 2000 2080  1080 1083 1088 
>  +hsync +vsync"
> Option "PreferredMode" "1920x1080"_60.0"
>
> or some such.


This is the output of xrandr and nvidia-settings.


root@Gentoo-1 ~ # nvidia-settings -q all

ERROR: The control display is undefined; please run `nvidia-settings
--help` for usage information.

root@Gentoo-1 ~ # xrandr -q
Can't open display
root@Gentoo-1 ~ #


At one point, the nvidia command spit out a LOT of info.  I scrolled
through it and saw nothing that looked like a error.  Thing is, I can't
get it back now.  The xrandr command also spit out a little info.  For
some reason, after a reboot and the screen being like it was, it shows
that above now.  I have DM running, logged into KDE but no plasma. 
Resolution looks correct.  I think if plasma was working, it would be
normal.  A 'ps aux | grep plasma' shows it is running.  There is nothing
on the screen tho.  Not even one dot.  I left a Konsole window open the
last time it worked.  That's how I know it is up.  Otherwise, I'd have a
black screen and nothing else. 


>
> If the above won't do it, you can capture the monitor's EDID while it is 
> working - you can use nvidia-settings again:
>
> https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3571/~/managing-a-display-edid-on-linux
>
> There's a more manual way to do this too:
>
> find /sys |grep -i edid
>
> then copy the corresponding file to /lib/firmware/LG/W2253_edid.bin
>
> and add it to your kernel before you recompile it:
>